Advent 2024:  Passion and Dream

Advent Day Twenty, December 20, 2024

“The Christmas stories are not about a spectacular series of miraculous events that happened in the past that we are to believe in for the sake of going to heaven. Rather, they are about God’s passion, God’s dream, for a transformed earth.”  Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, The First Christmas

Did this birth for which we are waiting and getting so very close literally happen as described in the opening two chapters of Matthew’s gospel? Or did it happen as described in the opening two chapters of Luke’s story?  Did the angel announce the coming birth to Joseph (Matthew) or to Mary (Luke)? Was the girl Mary a virgin, or was she a “young woman”? Did Joseph and Mary live in Bethlehem (Matthew) or Nazareth (Luke)?  Were there specifically three magi who followed a star, or simply three given gifts?

Two thousand years away from an event that forever changed human history, we’ve eliminated the dirt, the odor of unwashed bodies, the smell of cow manure, the dangerous birth, the germ-ridden surroundings into which Love was born and instead have sanitized the Nativity into a fairy tale, into something almost make-believe that happened “once upon a time.” Or we argue that if this certain detail or that one isn’t factual, then none of the story is true, completely missing the challenge and the hope of a transformed earth, God’s “passion and dream” for us.

In these brief remaining days of Advent, it would behoove the world if we gave serious reflection to what God’s passion and dream for a transformed earth might be because we are certainly the players invited to make it happen. Believing in the birth of Jesus as the Son of God was never meant to be our ticket to heaven; it was meant to be the impetus behind bringing heaven to earth: “the kingdom of God is in the midst of you” (Luke 17:21). The sweet Christmas card story of the Nativity is, in fact, a radical call to action.

Since “God is love,” God’s passion and dream must include loving each other, even with all our differences, even when we don’t want to. It must include loving ourselves, as well. God’s passion and dream for a transformed earth must include faith, hope, and unity over fear and division. God’s passion and dream must include whatever the Christ taught and modeled: welcoming the outsider, forgiving those who wrong us, serving others, practicing humility, setting fear and worry aside, allowing our inner child to shine, healing what and who we can, putting away our swords, making time and taking time to be with the One who loves us enough to have a passion and dream that includes each one of us.

Whatever happened, however it happened, in that far away corner of an occupied country isn’t simply a past occurrence that we fondly remember once a year but an ongoing activity that we embrace. God’s passion and dream is to be “With Us” in our world now, at this very moment, to take our hands when we walk our journeys, to pick us up when we stumble, to comfort us when we hurt, to bind us together, and to love us into fearlessness so that we can do the same for each other.

Whether camels were present isn’t the point of the birth of Christ.  As Borg and Crossan proclaim about the coming of God into our midst, “We who have seen the star and heard the angels sing are called to participate in the new birth and new world proclaimed.” May it be so.

Blessings!  ~ Rosemary

PS. This reflection is my final one for this season as I take some promised time to reflect on what this holy season means to me. Thank you so very much for taking time together, in unity with me, these past twenty days of Advent. Your company has been greatly appreciated and a joy.  And remember, you are loved by Love.

Photo credit: Pixabay